Celebrate Future, Pen Argyl High Graduates Told

Pen Argyl Area High School held its 85th annual commencement exercises yesterday, as school board president Joyce Blake and board vice president Dr. John Turtzo presented diplomas to seniors.

Student speakers Leigh Kressler and Lisa Fiorot jointly addressed the graduating class in a dialogue entitled "Remember the Past" and "Celebrate the Future."

Fiorot observed, "Graduation is a time to celebrate our futures, since it marks the beginning of a new milestone in our lives."

She said, "Many have experienced failures which have a negative impact, and it is those failures which we must ignore and leave in the past . . . We must look forward to our next objective with absolute optimism."

Fiorot also advised, "Since we're moving onward, we must relinquish such characteristics as selfishness, irresponsibility, immediacy, self-indulgenc e and dependency."

Kressler pointed to one of her old 9th grade class notebooks. She said," Outwardly, it appears useless, but in reality it symbolizes the knowledge we've gained through our high school experiences." She continued, "There are certain positive qualities we've gained from the influence of our parents, relatives, friends and teachers, like responsibility, dedication and self- discipline."

Reflecting on her school years, Kressler said, "We've seen many happy times together, and through them we've learned to cooperate and develop a sense of well-being." She said, "Through competition, we've achieved many successes . . . We must always remember these successes and use them as building blocks for the future."